IDF soldier gets 9 months for torturing Palestinian detainees

[geek tragedy]

The Jaffa Military Court on Tuesday sentenced a combat soldier from the IDF’s ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda Battalion to nine months in prison for torturing Palestinian suspects by electric shock on two separate occasions last year.

The soldier, who was found guilty of abuse under aggravated circumstances by the same court, was also handed a six-month suspended sentence and demoted to the rank of private, Army Radio reported.

According to military prosecutors, after arresting a Palestinian suspect near the West Bank city of Jenin last October, several Netzah Yehuda soldiers blindfolded, handcuffed and beat him. Then, one of them attached electrodes to the man’s neck and shocked him.

When the detainee pleaded with him to stop, he increased the voltage, according to the indictment.

Several days later, the soldier did the same thing to another Palestinian man arrested by his unit in the West Bank village of Attil outside Tulkarem. The prisoner was blindfolded, handcuffed and beaten before the soldier shocked him using electrodes attached to his temples, the indictment said.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-soldier-gets-9-months-for-torturing-palestinian-detainee/

Pretty light sentence. Future in politics for this chap?

[still_one]

1. Agreed it is too light a sentence, but at least it was prosecuted. It is time to get the parties

back to the negotiating table. This has got to stop

[Jefferson23]

2. According to the indictment the soldier increased the voltage when the man pleaded for him to stop?

To answer your question, he could very well have a future in politics.

[Little Tich]

3. Torture of Palestinian Detainees by Shin Bet Investigators Rises Sharply

Source: Haaretz, Mar 06, 2015

In the second half of last year, there were 51 instances of torture reported, compared to eight in the first half of 2014.

Mohammed Hatib, a Hamas activist from Hebron, is a childhood friend of Marwan Kawasme, who masterminded the abduction and subsequent murder of the three teens from Gush Etzion in June 2014. Hatib was arrested shortly after the kidnapping and interrogated by the Shin Bet security service. He denied any knowledge of the affair and said he had no idea where Kawasme had disappeared to.

Hatib’s questioning very quickly turned into torture, what the Ofer Military Court judges call “required by necessity,” “exceptional questioning,” or “special means.” Under torture, Hatib admitted to serving as a lookout for Kawasme and his accomplice, Amar Abu-Aisha, on the night of the abduction. This was a lie; the investigation showed that there was no lookout. The Shin Bet and the military prosecution did not believe Hatib, as can be seen by the indictment he was served, in which there is no mention of involvement in the abduction. He stands accused of firing a rifle in the air in 2006 and later taking part in a large number of Hamas rallies and protests.

Hatib’s questioning under torture is part of a trend, that began in the second half of 2014, of the increased use of torture by the Shin Bet, according to an attorney who represents many suspects accused of security offenses, information collected by Haaretz from military courts, and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel.

“In years past there were a few rare cases. But something has changed,” the attorney said.

In all of 2014, 23 Palestinians filed a number of complaints of torture by the Shin Bet (each complainant can file a complaint over a number of different methods of torture). In the first half of 2014 there were five complaints of sleep deprivation and beatings during interrogation. There were no complaints of shaking or of tying suspects in what are known as the “banana” and the “frog” position. But in the second half of 2014, there were 19 complaints of sleep deprivation, 12 of beatings, 18 of tying and two of shaking. All in all there were 51 instances reported, as opposed to eight in the first half of the year.

Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.645587

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It seems as if torture is OK in Israel as long as it's authorized...